Overtime woes continue for the Coyotes

Behind a Drew Stafford goal a little more than three minutes into overtime, the Buffalo Sabres beat the Coyotes 2-1 in a hard fought battle. One of the reasons why Phoenix was so successful last season was because of their play in overtime, but they are now 0-6 in an extra session so far this season.

The Coyotes played hard throughout the game, but were unable to score on four power play chances, which included two in the last seven minutes of regulation. It is a bit surprising considering how good this team has been on the PP at home so far this season. The Sabres converted on one of their two chances six minutes into the second period behind a goal from Jordan Leopold for his ninth of the season. Nearly six minutes later however, Scottie Upshall would tie things up after he scoped up a rebound off of Ryan Miller on a shot from Adrian Aucoin. The goal was Upshall’s 12th on the season, which is good for the team lead.

Phoenix had several opportunities in the remaining minutes in the second period and throughout the third period, but failed to convert on any of them. Miller came up with some big time saves and showed why he beat out Ilya Bryzgalov for the Vezina last season. Jason LaBarbera came up with some big saves of his own in his first start at home this season to send the game into OT and give the Yotes a hard fought one-point in the standings.

It appeared that the game was going to go to a shootout, but Stafford shot a rocket past LaBarbera to give Buffalo the victory for their second straight win to close out their brief three-game road trip. The loss for the Coyotes snapped their two-game win streak.  Stafford’s late goal in the overtime session also snapped Shane Doan’s points streak at eight games.